The Runic Alchemist

“So you started a war?” Land-breaker asked.

Vidalia did not answer. Her eyes met with the Supreme Blade’s, and for a second, both stared at each other before continuing their walk.

A single dungeon was not worth this much trouble—it was, however, a very valuable resource for a country, and one of this level could potentially change the power balance between nations.

They had reached an empty spot near the forest. The clouds had dispersed, and the leaves of the green trees above them were still dripping with water. Vidalia stopped here and turned around.

Damian drew a few runic circles and activated all of them; in seconds, a beautifully designed wooden platform rose out of the ground—table, chairs, slanted roof, and support logs all formed from a single piece. It was all connected, technically just one big, oddly shaped tree.

Doing it this way was harder than conjuring each wooden structure one at a time. But for Damian, it was more convenient—and somehow easier—this way. Another spell cast without a single word—even the Land-breaker was eyeing him now, along with Vidalia.

Everyone sat. Vidalia brought out some fancy premium wine from her spatial storage. Filling a glass for herself, she placed the bottle on the table. Damian poured a glass for himself; so did Lucian, Sam, Maelor, and many others. Mindseer refrained, but she did fill a wooden cup Damian had made for the Land-breaker.

After taking a sip, Vidalia at last answered Land-breaker’s earlier question.

“We did not start a war. Even after the Highswords went missing, everything proceeded as expected. Dawnstar and the Empire were already fighting a war on multiple fronts. Neither Faerunia interrupted them, nor did we. Both our nations were more focused on the scattered Ashenvale—trying to influence the lords to join us. Faerunia, in the end, took control of a few border regions of Dawnstar, but that was the work of their border lords. The villages and small towns had asked for the lords’ help to save them from monsters and bandits. And the protection came at a price.

Now that Faerunia had direct access to Ashenvale—controlling all northern ports of Dawnstar—their influence over the Ashenvale lords grew. Many of them chose Faerunia and accepted the Ferunian king as their own. We tried to interfere politically, but it rarely gave any results. When the Sanctuary was attacked, we pushed them back and started expanding our borders too. Half of Ashenvale was ours, and the other half was slowly being swallowed by Faerunia..”

“Wait a second..” Maelor interrupted her. “Did you just say Sanctuary? A city Sanctuary?”

“Yes,” Vidalia confirmed. “The region starting from the border of Dawnstar and Ashenvale—called Rayajin. From there to the city of Bamayas.”

“The land the Highswords gave us? Who built this city?” Lucian asked.

“A friend of mine named Einar, and one of my family members,” Vidalia replied with a blank face—though Damian could notice some confusion there.

“When?” Damian asked.

“What do you mean?” Vidalia responded, a bit confused. “The city has been there for sixty years. You all know that.”

All who had come with Damian started looking at each other, silently confirming that they had not gone insane. There was no city called Sanctuary there before they went inside the dungeon. The future was expected. But how the hell did the past change because of their world-hopping?

Maelor was about to say something, but Damian grabbed his shoulder, silencing him. The others noticed the simple exchange and understood his intentions. Before coming to this world, Damian had told everyone to expect some weird situations because of their travel through different worlds. He had warned them to expect a large time difference—but a change in their history had not been covered.

“Please continue..” Damian said to Vidalia.

She had noticed something was off, but didn’t press the issue. She simply continued after taking a sip of her wine.

“At last, the war ended between Dawnstar and the Empire. It lasted much longer than we expected. They say only because of the Empire’s massive twisted weapons did they manage to win against Dawnstar’s much smaller army. The name Mightyone was not undeserved. He and his son, the King of Dawnstar, along with Souldealer, gave a bitter fight to the Emperor. Mightyone left a legend that day—one history will never forget. The king, with his Soul of Dawn, fought valiantly. So did all their people. But in the end.. they lost.”

Vidalia paused and looked at Maelor with pity in her eyes.

“Your father, grandfather, and older brother are gone. They gave their lives to let some of your people escape. The second prince was given the Soul of Dawn, along with the responsibility of your people. Your sister was with him too, and many of Dawnstar’s survivors, when they sought help from the Sanctuary. We accepted them. And with their help, we reclaimed half of Ashenvale that Faerunia had conquered.

Today’s Ashenvale is split in three—the largest part belongs to Eldoris. Then the Sanctuary, where the Dawnstar survivors joined. And the rest belongs to Faerunia.

That all happened within just two years after you disappeared with all the might of the Highswords. We thought it was finally over. We had peace again—for the first time in two decades, there was no more war. But everything changed when the Empire’s farthest harbor was attacked by the demons.”

“The same island demons?” Evante asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “Turns out there was a reason the Emperor had abandoned his homeland. This army—their weapons, their ships, the technologies and spells they wield—are far superior to anything we have. Turns out there was some runic weapon or mana contract in the Highswords’ home—the Obsidian Bastion—that had forbidden them from attacking humans directly.

But they still had influence—on our five kingdoms, and even inside the Highswords. They used money, power, and other means to turn our own people against us. Every country had people—these evil chaos followers—in positions of power. They knew everything about us. They had prepared for years to fight against us.. while we didn’t even believe they existed.”

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